Republican challenger Rob Astorino, badly trailing Gov. Cuomo in campaign cash, expects “several millions of dollars’’ in windfall Super PAC funding from across the nation as a result of last week’s federal court ruling in Manhattan, GOP insiders say.
Some of the funding is expected to come from wealthy oil- and gas-industry executives furious at Cuomo’s nearly 3¹/₂-year delay in making a decision on “fracking’’ for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region of the Southern Tier near Binghamton.
Other pro-Astorino contributions are expected from Second Amendment supporters and firearms-industry executives, who strongly opposed Cuomo’s anti-gun-ownership “Safe Act,’’ as well as from well-heeled social conservatives outraged over the governor’s claim that “extreme conservatives’’ have “no place in New York.’’
“There could be a lot of money coming into New York as a result of the ruling. There are a lot of folks across the country who have come to see Cuomo as a symbol of the Democrats’ hostility to the use of our nation’s oil and gas resources and who resent his positions on guns and traditional values,’’ said a prominent Republican activist.
Last week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a potential presidential contender in 2016 whose energy-rich state contains many Super PAC backers, compared Cuomo’s refusal to permit “fracking’’ to President Obama’s refusal to give the go-ahead to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
The court ruling, by Manhattan federal Judge Paul Crotty, threw out New York’s $150,000 cap on how much money an individual can contribute to independent political-action committees that back candidates. Crotty cited recent US Supreme Court rulings holding that big-dollar political contributions are a form of First Amendment-protected free speech.
Independent PACs are permitted to back candidates or support issues outside any state or federal expenditure limit, but they’re not permitted to coordinate their activities with an individual candidate’s campaign.
Cuomo’s latest official campaign filing showed he had raised more than $33 million, while Astorino, the Westchester County executive, had less than $1 million on hand.
Texas Gov. Perry, whose challenge for a debate over state fiscal policies was rebuffed by Cuomo last week, says he’s hopeful that such a debate will be held in the future.
“This is an important conversation for the future competitiveness of our respective states and our nation, and I’m hopeful Governor Cuomo and I will have the opportunity to discuss this soon,’’ Perry — who, like Cuomo, is eyeing a run for president in 2016 — told The Post.
Cuomo has privately given the green light to potential big-buck contributors to help Republican attorney-general hopeful John Cahill, one-time chief of staff to Gov. George Pataki, campaign fund-raisers say.
Cuomo, no friend of incumbent Democrat Eric Schneiderman, “has made it clear through his connections that he won’t hold it against anyone if they contribute to Cahill’s campaign,’’ said a source close to Cahill’s planned effort.
It was state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and not Cuomo who was the conspicuous star at the Democratic Rural Conference weekend gathering, in what participants described as another sign of the governor’s problems within his own party.
“DiNapoli received the most applause and a standing ovation, and that says volumes,’’ said a longtime activist in the DRC, an influential association of upstate Democratic activists.
Cuomo has had longstanding tensions with ÂDiNapoli, and was widely seen as attempting to undermine his re-election by agreeing last month to a controversial system of public-campaign financing just for DiNapoli’s office that could weaken the comptroller’s electoral chances.
Former Bronx City Councilman and state Attorney General Oliver Koppell continued the guessing game Sunday, although he said he is definitely “leaning toward’’ challenging Senate Independent Democratic Conference head Jeff Klein, who joined with Republicans to become co-leader of the Senate.